Divine Glory: Parashat Haazinu/Sukkot (5780 – 2019)

Sukkot-3

Parashat Haazinu/Sukkot (5780 – 2019)
Deuteronomy 32:1 – 32:52 

This reading often directly precedes the festival of Sukkot, the Harvest Festival. References to nature abound in this reading. They range from the unspoiled, God-given phenomena of rain and dew and go on to include the produce of human cultivation of the soil. Late in the song of Ha’azinu  we find the paradoxical image of “the vine of Sodom, the vineyard of Gomorrah,” where these cities of iniquity are seen as sources of rotten fruit. We have moved from nature to civilization, but civilization as a source of corruption and wrong-doing.

Thus, without stating it explicitly, our Torah portion tells of the vulnerability of nature, available to people to use as they see fit, subject to manipulation and transformation at the hands of humans. Will this usage be for good or for ill? Will nature be enhanced or destroyed? Only we have the answers.

The building of a sukkah also raises these issues. The main element of the sukkah is not its walls or its decorations, although we love to beautify them and we hope they stay up for the whole holiday. The main, defining element of a sukkah is the roof, the “covering – s’khakh”. It is from this word that the sukkah gets its name. Jewish law has a very strict requirement regarding the materials that go into making the roof of the sukkah. Although the sukkah is meant to be a shelter, the roof is prohibited from being a solid covering crafted to keep out the wind, blazing sun or rain. No corrugated sheet metal! The materials must be natural and such that they are not manufactured to be usable for practical purposes. Whatever minimal working is applied to the natural stuff, it must not turn them into generally usable supplies. (The contemporary sukkah industry struggles mightily with this restriction and there are many learned discussions that consider just how far the s’khakh can be processed.)

This rule is derived by our Sages from the notion that the wilderness sukkah that sheltered the people of Israel was actually composed of Divine Clouds of Glory. Such stuff was ever pure. But, to make our sukkah, we do not have such clouds at our disposal anymore. The closest thing we have is nature, manipulated as little as possible by human beings. The sukkah challenges us to wonder whether we will be able to continue to sustain a nature that is pristine or will we prefer the noxious vineyards of Sodom?

Shabbat Shlom v’Hag Same`ah
Rabbi David Greenstein

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Image(s): Courtesy Adam Anik for The Montclair Local, Shomrei’s Sukkah Raising 2017

 

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